


Flip

by BaZzZ21



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Humor, M/M, this is like pre-Sasunaru lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2019-10-21 12:47:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17643110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaZzZ21/pseuds/BaZzZ21
Summary: I see everyone being dazzled by his sheer perfection on a daily basis, and you might expect it to get old real fast but nope, they look at Sasuke the same way every single goddamn time. And it's maddening because I'm the only one that feels blinded by that stupid duck hair, that stupid arrogant smirk, those stupid, stupid eyes.It makes me want to flip the bird at one Uchiha Sasuke.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I just finished watching the movie Flipped, and I just fell in love with the way the story was narrated. So here it is, the product of that love and procrastination in doing med school stuff. Oh well, if I'm gonna fail then I might as well fail HARD.

I first saw Uzumaki Naruto in front of our house the day we moved in.

The weather was nice - it was fall, the air carrying with it the scent of freshly cut grass, and as we drove through the neighborhood it gave me a picturesque view of the tall trees lining the streets, the oranges and yellows of the leaves a magnificent sight as they got illuminated by sunlight.

_It's all about the small details_ , I remembered Itachi saying it to me one time. My mood soured instantly at the brief thought of my brother, who is miles away in college studying Law. I wondered if he's doing fine. I wanted to tell him that the sky here looked like an expanse canvas of baby blue streaked with wisps of white clouds, and that it was beautiful but it wasn't home,  and that made _the_ difference.

"We're here," mother announced in a sing-song voice as father ceremoniously stopped the car in front of a two-storey house. Uchiha Mikoto was a sight to behold, her smile positively radiating with happiness as she immediately went out of the car, a key gleaming in her hand as she lithely strode down the cobbled steps that led to the front door. Uchiha Fugaku went out next, stretching his stiff arms before going to the back of the car to grab some stuff. I looked over to the pastel-colored paint, and seeing that it wasn't a glaring eyesore lifted my mood a bit. I grabbed the backpack on my lap and swung the car door open, breathing deep before stepping down the cracked pavement.

I was going for the baggage still inside the trunk of the car when a shrill voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Gamabunta, watch out!" A boy suddenly lunged down to seize a leaping frog just a meter away from me. I watched with mixed horror and fascination as a pink tongue darted out to catch a stray fly. The boy even had the gall to mutter a proud "good job" at the frog and even patted its head.

Just the sight of it made my skin crawl.

Usually I would have just walked away, but this wasn't a usual occurrence, and it was strange enough that it made me blurt out the first thought that came to mind. "You have names for _frogs_?" The boy, as if realizing for the first time that anyone was there, gazed up at me from his crouched position with a timid smile, but it quickly morphed into an angry frown as he noticed my poorly concealed expression of disgust.

His pale eyebrows scrunched together. "Yeah, so what?" He stood up in one fluid motion, both hands holding tight to what _now_ registered to me was his pet.

_It really was an unusual day_ , I thought, because I felt my tongue moved on its own accord as if it had its own brain. "I wouldn't want to shake hands with you." I looked pointedly at the frog as I said so.

I heard an indignant sniff before the blond replied. "Don't get your panties in a twist, it didn't even cross my mind." With that he turned around, and for a moment I just stood there, dumfounded at the sight of sunshine blond hair and broad shoulders and golden skin in the afternoon light. If he had any hour in a day it would be _this,_ despite his loud mouth and quick temper. The blond looked absolutely _glorious._

I was watching him cross the street to what looked like his house (which was a glaring orange) only across from ours, when I realized one thing.

I didn't even get to know his name.

____

Uchiha Sasuke is just skinning a frog in their biology lab experiment, but everyone stares at him in awe as if he's their modern-day messiah bringing the dead back to life in a pristine white lab gown.

"Naruto, you're thinking about him. _Again_." I hear the emphasis more than enough that it makes me look sideways at Sakura, her hands expertly removing the skin on the frog's leg and is about to expose its gastrocnemius muscle with forceps, which is currently MIA and nowhere in sight.

I snort, _loud_ , just for emphasis too. "No I'm not." I see something silver glint from under the lab manual so I topple the book over, grasping the forceps and handing it to her. I watch her nimble fingers do the work. She said she'd wanted to be a doctor someday, and _would he please let her do the experiment today_?

Sakura sighs. She likes to sigh a lot, whether she's in a jovial mood or in a depressing shithole. She sighs even though the situation doesn’t call for it, and I hear it more than I hear my mom nagging me. I keep my mouth shut though, because she might want to save lives someday, but Sakura has those psycho eyes and it always makes me think of serial killers. "You have that look in your face. And there's only one person that makes you look like that." Sakura speaks in a matter-of-fact voice, as if she has known this as long as she knows her alphabet.

I raise an eyebrow at her even though she couldn't see it, since her attention is solely on the experiment from the moment she put her gloves on. "I'm thinking about what’s for dinner tonight." It is no secret that Kushina can't cook for her life, and it's an inside joke between me and Sakura. She had been the first victim of mom, and a survivor at that. As her childhood friend I wanted to warn her but I wanted to see her expression more, and the black eye was worth it as I still remember the way her face turned an alarming shade of purple after she took a bite of the deceptive-looking turkey.

Suffice to say, she never ate another meal in our house since that fateful day. "No, you've got a different look on that. Specifically, your nostrils flare a little wider and you look like you wanted to vomit," she says it as if it isn't unnerving for her to admit out loud that she knows me like the back of her hand.

"Well then, genius, what do I look like when I think about _Sasuke_?" I must have said his name a little louder than I intend to, because several heads swivel in my direction. I give them what I hope is a charming smile and an offhand wave of a hand, because Sasuke might be the most handsome man on earth but everyone knows that I could give him a run for his money any day, and I use that fact as leverage whenever I like to. I almost wince at the sight of Hinata fainting two tables from here on the back.

If she only knew that I have the hots for her cousin Neji...

I turn back to Sakura and see her with a smirk plastered on her lips. It eerily looks a lot like Sasuke's. "You really wouldn't want to know."

As if on cue, a pale hand pulls down the mask covering half my face from behind my back, the strong scent of formalin instantly invading my senses and making my eyes water. I turn around and glare at the bastard, who speaks up with his usual sardonic voice. "Wouldn't want to know about what?"

I hear Sakura snicker from the background, but it is a dull sound that I just ignore. Uchiha Sasuke has a way of making anything and anyone insignificant the moment he's within your space, like he wants to be the only one that should matter to _you_.

It makes me want to flip the bird at him, so I did. "Don't you have any more frogs left to torture?" I say as I turn back to Sakura, who apparently has now left the vicinity and is currently by the large desk in front of the class, speaking with (or more like, harasing) the professor, her hands holding the manual open as she explains something in her no-nonsense face.

Traitor.

I turn back around to see Sasuke looking at me with those eerie eyes. They are an all-encompassing black, not even a hint of any color in it. I don't know why but people find his eyes attractive, because to me they would always remind me of beetles. I try to stare back, but for some unfathomable reason I couldn't hold his intense gaze and I just look away. 

A white handkerchief smacks the side of my face, my hands grasping it tight before it could fall to the ground. I would've shouted right then and there if it isn't for the shock upon seeing Sasuke just a few feet away from me, his fingers reaching out to snap the mask back to its place. "Your tears are leaking out, dobe." And with that he passes me by, and I watch him walk the aisle towards Sakura in front, a lab manual I haven't even noticed before clutched in his hand.

I put the blame of my momentary lapse of judgment entirely to the smell of apples clinging on to Sasuke's handkerchief.

And how his elegant fingers smelled exactly the same.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to continue this, although I still couldn’t get hold of a sensible plot here, aside from the fact that it’s a story that shows the progressing relationship of Sasuke and Naruto. So I guess this is just a light, feel-good, teeth-rotting fluff of a fic with a lot of time skips (though it’s just in weeks or months, it depends so just look for the cue words). I hope I won’t disappoint you guys

_3 months later_

It’s the third time in an hour that Uchiha Sasuke finds himself staring at his own doodle.

Granted, today’s last lecture on Algebra is about polynomials. Half of the class are already snoozing happily in their seats, while the other half are valiantly pretending not to. It’s a funny sight, more so when you are lucky enough to have Sasuke’s place on the back. And then there’s the fact that numbers and solving them come naturally to him like breathing in air, so his conscience couldn’t guilt trip him if he chooses not to listen as his teacher drones on in front. It isn’t like Kakashi cares anyway whether they lend him their ears or not. If anything, Sasuke could definitely say that Kakashi sensei is already bored out of his skull right now. He catches the silver-haired man sneaking furtive glances to the seemingly innocent orange book on the teacher’s desk.

He almost breaks his pencil in half as he glances back down at the paper in front of him and realizes that he’s been drawing a frog for the past hour.

It isn’t just any frog though. Sasuke could recognize it even with his eyes closed. _Gamabunta_ . Just the thought of its name brings him back to that fateful afternoon when he first saw it, and _him_. Uzumaki Naruto.

Not that the blond boy had voluntarily given out that particular piece of information to him. It’s a small town, the kind where all the kids go to the same school. He could still remember the way Naruto’s blue eyes had narrowed at him on the first day of classes as he made his way to the vacant seat in front, beside a girl with pale skin and lavender irises. He knew Hinata Hyuuga since they attended preschool together, with her obnoxious cousin in tow. She’s shy and doesn’t talk that much, and she doesn’t seem to be like the other girls who send him flirty winks and saccharine sweet smiles on a daily basis. That’s why he was a little bit surprised when he saw the blond offered a hand to Hinata, her usually pale face blushing a furious shade of red. Something about it made Sasuke looked promptly away.

But that didn’t mean he hadn’t paid attention when it was Naruto’s turn to introduce himself in front of class. He watched Naruto grinned widely at everyone as he told the most mundane stuff about himself in a boisterous voice. _I’m Uzumaki Naruto, and I love frogs and ramen! I’m 13 years old..._ It didn’t escape Sasuke’s notice as to how everyone in the room was enraptured by the blond, like they were all caught in a spell - and how Naruto’s friendly gaze hardened instantly upon landing on him. Sasuke didn’t know what to do ( _why did it feels like I have to do something when I really don’t have to?),_ so he did what he’s best at - he smirked mockingly, with an intention to get on the blond’s nerves. He didn’t expect the blond to stammer in his words when he’d been doing fine awhile ago.

Naruto didn’t look anymore at him throughout his introductory speech in front of the whole class.

Sasuke brushed it off, burying the annoyance he’d felt at the dismissive action. He wouldn’t let himself be affected by him, of all the people out here vying for his attention. He isn’t vain, but he isn’t dumb either. He’d notice people look at him far too long than is absolutely necessary and had already received more than a dozen love confessions at the ripe age of seven. Imagine his horror at that.

His resolve, much to his disdain, had lasted for a whole five minutes before disappearing in a poof of dust the instant Naruto tripped on his way back to his seat. Everyone laughed, even Iruka sensei who always looked so stern even in the mornings, so he let out a snort too. It wasn’t even a full blast, tummy-grabbing, snot-out laugh. But everyone turned their attention from the spectacle of Naruto’s clumsiness to him with matching wide eyes and mouths agape. Naruto gave him a look he couldn’t quite decipher, the blond’s lips trembling as if he wanted to join in the laughter (or maybe cry, Sasuke really can’t pinpoint which), until the blond stood up with a huff. He heard an angry mumble of his name as Naruto walked past him. _Sasuke-teme_.

The fact that Naruto knew his name sent a ripple of satisfaction and inexplicable joy through him. _He knows me. He knows my name._ It was the singular thing that ran through his mind that day, when he ate his lunch and walked back home after class and did his homework and before he went to sleep.

Three months had already passed since the first day of classes, but some things never change in his first year in high school.

Like how a certain blond is currently sleeping on his own desk, a suspiciously-looking blob of wetness marring the notebook lying open on his whiskered cheek. Sasuke can’t recall the exact time he looked sideways at Naruto’s direction. The blond’s seatmate in Algebra, Kiba, is leaning precariously on the hind legs of his chair, a pencil balanced on his nose and his eyes gawking at the ceiling, and it allows Sasuke a clear view of Naruto. In Konoha High, his classmates for the year are the same, but the seat plan is rearranged every subject. Like right now, Sasuke is just one desk and one person away from Naruto.

He doesn’t know why that piece of information seems to make itself significant to him, or why instead of being disgusted by the sight of someone drooling in his sleep, he couldn’t manage to look away. Suddenly it feels like the first day of classes all over again.

Lately it feels like he’s brimming with questions anew and running out of time at the same time. A sliver of panic snakes its way through him, and it causes him to divert his attention hastily away from the sleeping blond.

But not before tossing a scrap of paper sideways before he could think much about it, and he doesn’t have to turn to know that he had managed to hit his target.

—

Uzumaki Naruto wakes up right at the shrill sound of the bell signifying the end of class. He slaps himself awake with both hands before seeing a crumpled piece of paper lying innocently on his table. He doesn’t remember tearing it out, or writing anything before going to sleep. He snatches it and without much reluctance, opens it in a whim, his fingers smoothing out the creases.

Somehow he’s not at all surprised at the detailed drawing of his frog on the paper, with words written cursively below. _You snore so loud, dobe_. Unknowingly his thumb traces the elegant handwriting, but when he finally notices the strange gesture, he withdraws his hand in confusion. “What the fuck am I doing?”

He turns warily to his left, but he doesn’t find the familiar sight of a tall, raven-haired Sasuke on his seat. Looking around, he notices everyone is almost out of the room, except for Kiba who’s still dumping his stuff on his duffel bag with one hand while the other one clutching a cellphone to his ear, and a few girls still busy gossiping about who-knows-who near the windows.   

He puts his things away, glancing once at the paper before folding it carefully and placing it inside his algebra book. He momentarily freezes in his tracks as he catches the weak scent of apples clinging on the paper before setting it aside. _Get a grip and quit being a lovesick girl, Naruto!_

Quit being like a girl who apparently shakes on her knees at the whiff of scented apples . He walks all the way home doing nothing but reprimanding himself, resisting the urge to glance at the house in front of theirs. _Sasuke’s house._

—

_1 week later_

Sasuke figures that a week of throwing papers at someone without context wouldn’t get him what he wants ( _what does he want, anyway?_ ). So he decides to wait by the door as people shuffle out of the classroom, cheerful voices filling the hallway as the joyful air of dismissal sweeps from one person to another. He leans casually on the wall until he sees a shock of bright hair walk away. He reaches out before Naruto could get any further, his hand seizing hold on the fraying end of a strap on Naruto’s backpack. He hears an indignant yelp- followed shortly by a sound of something tearing apart.

He glances down in time to see Naruto’s things tumble out in a heap. Sasuke scrambles forward before a book completely falls out to the floor, catching it with both hands before kneeling to get the other stuff lying around. When he’s sure that he didn’t leave anything behind, he gathers all the supplies in his arms before craning his neck up. His heart constricts at the sight that greets him- Naruto standing limply in front of him and looking down right on his eyes, tears streaking down his face as he whispers dejectedly, “you broke my bag, Sasuke.”

Sasuke could do nothing but stare at him. He’s already used to Naruto’s glowering glares and bright smiles (though the latter one is never directed at him), but nothing has prepared him for _this_. He’s so shocked beyond belief that he doesn’t register Naruto’s fist coming for his face, the force of it whooshing the air out of his lungs and sending him sprawling on his back, the things he’s been holding scattering once again. He hears a muttering of voices, and he sits back up to see Ino looming threateningly over Naruto, her hands clenched tightly. “Why did you do that?” She repeats the question demandingly when the blond doesn’t respond the first time. More people decide to join the commotion, some with venomous expression on their faces and others with open curiosity. He hears a grunt as Kiba comes into view, pulling Naruto back. “Dumbass, what happened?”

Naruto doesn’t seem to care of the crowd growing around him. He only looks at Sasuke, guilt playing over his features. Sasuke breathes in and out, in and out. The routine calms him, and it clears his mind. He finds that underneath the simmering anger is a wave of pain and hurt. He stands on his feet, and even though he wants to punch the blond in the face and ask him _why are you always so mad at me_?, he opts for an indifferent glance and turns around to the people hovering like hungry vultures. “Show’s over, folks.” And with that he walks out of the hallway, everyone automatically parting to give him a wide berth.

He doesn’t look back.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews please? i really love it when you comment. Much love to all of you <3

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I should continue this. Thoughts? Thank you for reading this short piece <3


End file.
